Process and apparatus for the manufacture of cigarettes with a short mouthpiece of wadding, crepe paper or the like



June 18, 1935. c w MULLER 2,005,661

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CIGARETTES WITH A SHORTMOUTHPIECE OF WADDING, CREPE PAPER 08 THE LIKE Filed Feb 16, 1933 mveNT}! 'W, MuZZer Patented June 18, 1935 UNITED" STATES PATENT OFFICE CarlWilhelm Miiller, Dresden-Wetsui- Hirsch, Germany Application February16, 1933, Serial No. 657,140 In Germany March 8, 1932 12 Claims.

This invention relates to a process and apparatus for the manufacture ofcigarettes with a short mouthpiece of wadding, crepe paper or the like.In order to economize tobacco in the manu- 5 facture of cigarettes it issuitable to provide the cigarettes at the mouthpiece end with a shortfilling of wadding, crepe paper or the like. Such cigarettes, like theknown mouthpiece cigarettes with a long cardboard mouthpiece, aremanufactured by filling. In this connection, there is the disadvantagethat the shells with the short mouthpiece of wadding or paper can onlybe removed with difiiculty from the filling revolver in order to bepushed on the filling spoon, for the reason that the mouthpiece isextremely short relative to the portion of tobacco.

The present invention remedies this disadvantage by the fact that themanufacture of the shells with the mouthpiece, and also the filling, areeachocarried out in the known manner by means of so-called shell spoonsor filling spoons, but the two spoons are so disposed relative to eachother that the shells provided with the mouthpiece are transferred fromthe shell spoon directly to the filling spoon, that is to say, it is nolonger necessary to remove the shells provided with a mouthpiece fromthe shell machine and to transfer them into a separate filling machine.The shell spoon and filling spoon execute feed movements in oppositedirections such that in one position they are situated opposite thecontinuous length of shell and the tobacco rod respectively, and in theother position they are situated opposite each other in the samedirection.

An embodiment of the invention is shown diagrammatically by way ofexample in the accompanying drawing wherein:-

Figure 1 is a plan view of one embodiment,

Figure 1a is a side view of a part of Figure 1,

Figure 1b is a side view of a spoon,

Figure 1c is a plan view of Figure 1!),

Figure 1d is a side view of Figure 1b,

Figure 16 is a side view of another spoon arranged within the disccarrying it,

Figure 1 is a plan view of Figure 1e,

Figure 2 is a side view of the discs holding the spoons.

In the drawing, a is the paper strip supplied to the machine which isformed in the usual manner into a paper shell which moves towards theshell spoon. In the example shown, a number, for example four, of suchshell spoons b are provided, being mounted in common on one disc 0. Thedisc is mounted on a spindle d and is rotated stepwise. For this purposeth spindle d is provided with a bevel gear d engaging a second bevelgear at on a spindle d. This spindle is'connected by means of a pair ofbevel gears 11* with a spindle d at one end of which 5 there is arrangeda disc d having pins or projections d projecting into the path of arotating cam d". The cam is carried by a spindle d intermittently drivenby any means not shown in the drawing. Figure 1 shows the instant atwhich the forwardly moved paper shell has been pushed on to thelowermost spoon. The necessary length of shell is now cut oil by thepair of knives 6. At the same time, a strip, for example a strip ofwadding I, for making the mouthpiece is fed from the opposite side. Thismay be done by means of a conveying device a. The strip of wadding isinserted into the spoon itself and the necessary piece is cut of! by apair of knives h. Thus, a severedlength of the paper shell is placedupon or around the spoon, while a corresponding piece of wadding issituated inside the spoon. As soon as this has taken place, the disc. 0is fed further by one quarter of a revolution. A fresh length of thepaper shell is pushed on to'the next spoon to and a fresh piece of thestrip of wadding is inserted into it. Oppositely directed to the shellspoons, there are provided a number of filling spoons i mounted on adisk It. The latter in its .80 turn is mounted in the machine frame on aspindle k and the disc k makes stepwise revolutions in the same timesequence as the disc 0. For this purpose the spindle k is connected withthe spindle k by means of bevel gears 16 and the spindle k is driven bythe spindle d by means of a pair of bevel gears 7:. During each pause ofthe two discs, a shell spoon b and a filling spoon i are situatedopposite each other. Figure 2 shows the position of the two discs rela-40 tively to each other. The inwardly directed spoons lie in the sameline. As soon as the spoon b with the shell lying upon it has arrived infront of the filling spoon, a plunger m moves towards it. The saidplunger m engages the shell spoon internally, and has a lug m whichpasses through a slot b provided in the spoon and the disc 0.Consequently, the front face of the plunger m bears against the waddingmouthpiece, while the lug m bears against the shell, so that on theplunger m being moved forward by the crank n and the lever 11 actuatedby the said crank, the shell together with the mouthpiece is pushed offthe shell spoon and on to the filling spoon. The shell thus pushed on tothe fillingspooniisshowninl'ig. 1 ofthedrawing at a The crank nisprovided on a spindle n driven by the spindle d by means of a belt 1:running over thepulleys n and d" respectively. The introduction of thetobacco rod is now ef fectedon th'e fillin'g "The tobacco rod is. madein the rod forming device indicated in thedrawingat 0, and is fed to thedisc I: from the rear thereof. It is inserted into a short tube 9 and assoon as the necessary length-of tobacco rod has been inserted throughthe spoon into the short tube, the rod is severed by the knife q.

During the insertion of the rod into the spoon and hence into the shell,the latter must be held on the spoon by a known device because otherwiseit would be pushed off the spoon, due to the friction of the tobaccoagainst the shell during insertion. This may be efi'ected for example bymeans of the head r of a slide rod 1' bearing against the rear end-ofthe cigarette during insertion of the tobacco. The slide rod r is guidedin a suitable manner in the machine frame and its free rear end ishinged to a lever s which is pivoted about a point s in the machineframe, and which has its other end engaging a groove t of a grooved drum1! by means of a roller or a pin. The groove t is such that the lever sand hence also the slide rod 1 are given a reciprocating movement. Thedrum t is mounted on a spindle t iournalled in the machine frame anddriven by the spindle n by means of an intermediate spindle t and thebevel gears t and t respectively. A lever v is rotatably mounted in asmall support it on the slide rod r. The lever rocks about the pin umounted in the support u, and its front end carries a hook-like memberto, while the rear end is under the control of a cam a: mounted on ashaft This shaft is connected, with the spindle t by means of a pair ofscrew gears 2 As soon-as the rod made in the rod forming device 0 hasbeen pushed forward by the guiding and pressing rolls 1! and g and thenecessary length has been cut oil, the lever 12 is rocked by the cam a:so that the hook to is brought in front of the tobacco filling which itinserts into the shell through the action of the cam 1:. During itsfurther movement, the hook w then passes through the slit i provided inthe spoon i and disc It draws the shell, ready filled and provided 'withthe mouthpiece, of! the spoon while the rod 1' is restricted. Thecigarette is then finished, and it falls on the spoon and may beconveyed away in the usual manner.

Of course, the arrangement may be otherwise constructionally designed.For instance, the devices for actuating the individual mechanisms,

the device for forming the rod, for forming the shell, the cut-ofldevices and so forth, may be constructed in any other way, and inparticular any known kind of such devices may be employed 'for thepurpose of the present invention. Of

- course, the apparatus may also be constructed with only one singleshell spoon, and a single filling spoon, or spoons, reciprocating in oneplane may be employed instead of the spoons rotating stepwise.

I claim:-

1. An apparatus for the manufacture of cigarettes with short mouthpiecesof wadding, crepe paper or the like, comprising means for feeding acontinuous length of shell, a shell spoon for receiving a shell, afilling spoon for receiving a tobacco charge, and means for executingfeed movements for the spoons in opposite directions so that in oneposition the spoons are situated opposite the shell and the tobaccocharge respectively and in another position the spoons are situatedopposite each other in axial alignment.

2. An apparatus for the manufacture of ciga- 6 v rettes with shortmouthpiecesof wadding. crepe paper or the 'like, comprising means forfeeding a continuous length of shell, a spoon for receiving "the shellin predetermined lengths, means for feeding a tobacco rod, aspoon forreceiving the tobacco rod in predetermined lengths, and means for movingthe spoons from their feed positions to a position opposite each otherto transfer the shell from the shell spoon to the tobacco spoon.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, in which it means are provided forfeeding the wadding to the shell spoon.

4. An apparatus according to claim 2, in which individual cutting meansare provided to cut the tobacco rod and the shell into predeterminedlengths.

5. An apparatus for manufacturing cigarettes comprising a spoon for.receiving the shell of the cigarette, a second spoon for receiving thetobacco, means for transferring the shell from the first- 85 mentionedspoon to the second-mentioned spoon and means for moving the spoons outof axialalignment relative to each other to receive their respectivematerials and in axial alignment when transferring the shell from thefirst-mentioned spoon to the second spoon to then receive the tobacco.

6. An apparatus for'the manufacture of cigarettes with short mouthpiecesof paper wadding or the like, comprising a spoon rotatably mounted toreceive the shell of the cigarette and the wadding; a second spoonrotatably mounted to receive the tobacco, means for transferring theshell from the first-mentioned spoon to the secondspoons from thepositions out of axial alignment from each other where they receivetheir respective materials into the position where the spoons are inaxial alignment with each other when transferring the shell and waddingfrom the firstmentioned spoon to the second spoon to then receive thetobacco. I 7. An apparatus for the manufacture of cigarettes with shortmouthpieces of wadding, crepe paper or the like, comprising means forfeeding 5! a continuous length of shell, means for feeding a tobaccorod, a plurality of shell spoons, a plurality of filling spoons, andmeans for executing feed movements for the spoons in opposite directbnsso that in one position one of the shell spoons and one of the fillingspoons are situated opposite the continuous length of shell and thetobacco rod respectively, and in another position the said shell andfilling spoons are opposite each other in axial alignment. v 8. Anapparatus according to claim 7. in which the shell spoons and thefilling spoons are mounted on discs set in stepwise rotation by saidmeans. 9. An apparatus according to claim 1, in which individual meansare provided for cutting ofl a section of shell and a section of tobaccorod, and in which a feeding device is provided for a strip of waddingforming the mouthpiece mounted opposite the means for feeding thecontinuous length of shell so that simultaneously a section ofshell cutoff from the continuous length of shell is placed on the shell spoon,and a section of waddingcut 01! from the continuous length of mouthpieceis inserted into the shell spoon.

10. An apparatus according to claim 1, in which transfer means areprovided which executes its working movement in timed relationship withthe feed movement for the shell spoon to transfer the shell from theshell spoon onto the filling spoon in the same axial direction as theshell spoon in its position opposite the filling spoon.

11. An apparatus according to claim 1, in which means are provided forsevering a length of rod,

and a hook-like member is provided to engage the severed length of rodand to insert it into the shell and thereupon during its subsequentmovement to withdraw the finished cigarette ofi the filling spoon.

12. An apparatus according to claim 1, in which means are provided forsevering a length 01' rod, a hook-like member is provided to engage thesevered length of rod and to insert it into the shell and thereuponduring its subsequent movement to withdraw the finished cigarette oi!the filling spoon, said hook-like member forming the end oi! a doublelever, and in which a slide is provided to move in the longitudinaldirection of the rod and having a cam mounted thereon engaging thedouble lever and adapted to rock it to bring a needle-shaped endalternately into and out or engagement with the rod.

CARLWILHELM MfiLLER.

